James Holzhauer

“As a sports fan, I like the one-and-done playoff setups of the NFL and NCAA, but a best-of-seven gives the favorite a much better chance of prevailing in the end.”

“I often see sports teams playing to force overtime instead of trying to win in regulation, and it makes me shake my head.”

“I always dreamed of working in an MLB front office and ruining baseball, but I have to settle for ruining 'Jeopardy' instead.”

“I bet sports all the time and very rarely get in a spot where someone offered me even money on something I'm going to get right five out of six times.”

“I first got into gambling because it was a way for me to leverage my love of baseball statistics. For the first few years, that's all I would focus on.”

“I hope that my 'Jeopardy' run helps destigmatize sports betting because I have certainly dealt with some stigmas.”

“Getting onto 'Jeopardy!' was a pet project my whole life, so it was something I was willing to work really hard on.”

“I think there's a mental block for betting big amounts that doesn't exist for me but it does for other people.”

“Baseball was my goal from a young age, but gambling had significantly fewer barriers to entry.”

“It's really funny seeing all these media depictions of me as an intellectual because I'm a connoisseur of low culture.”

“Easily the hardest 'Jeopardy!' categories to study in the kids' section are the so-called 'trashy' pop culture ones.”

“I kind of didn't look at anyone else's strategy for 'Jeopardy!' I thought, I'm going to build this from the ground up... If I had never seen a 'Jeopardy!' game played before, what would I have to do to play it to maximize my winnings, maximize my chances of winning?”

“Anytime you learn something new, you're just trying to file it away - might be useful one day.”

“I was always good at video games like 'Guitar Hero,' which require the player to press buttons at precise times.”

“I've already begun giving to children's nonprofits in the Las Vegas area.”

“As a gambler, I hold myself to an especially high standard of honor, and it disgusts me when people try to cheat at games.”

“It is exciting for me to see the stats guys winning the battle and getting into MLB front offices.”

“When I was a kid, I would turn on the television as soon as I got home from school.”

“I know life goes on if you make a big bet and you lose. But if you don't give yourself the best chance of winning, you're going to kick yourself tomorrow.”

“I spent almost no time studying categories like geography and sports, even though they came up frequently on 'Jeopardy,' because I'm already strong in those subjects.”